Developers envision casino 'woven into fabric' of downtown New Bedford

Monday

Jan 11, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 11, 2010 at 8:00 AM

The would-be developers of Cannon Street Station on the site of the old NStar plant on the harbor are convinced that the casino would "be woven into the fabric of the town."

STEVE DeCOSTA

NEW BEDFORD — The would-be developers of Cannon Street Station on the site of the old NStar plant on the harbor are convinced that the casino would "be woven into the fabric of the town" and would not, as is the case with other, poorly designed urban casinos, "suck the life out of the area."

Rather than stand as "a feudal manor type of casino on its own site with a wall around it," Cannon Street Station would gladly share many of its 12,500 to 20,000 patrons a day with other city businesses and attractions, Andrew Michael Stern, managing director of developer KG Urban Enterprises, told the editorial board of The Standard-Times.

"We're not in the casino business. We're urbanists. We're not here to do anything alien.

"We're trying to use gaming as an engine," said Stern, who was speaking on behalf of the New York-based real estate service firm and a host of lawyers, engineers, designers, architects and industry analysts who have put together the plan for the $407 million casino, hotel, retail and conference center complex.

While the full proposal calls for 990 rooms in two hotels and six restaurants, "this is underbuilt," Stern said. "Casino patrons will be way underserved."

Which means that when the folks at the casino get hungry or a little bored, they'll be likely to head downtown, no more than a 10-minute walk away.

Steven Gallaway of Gaming Market Advisors, which drafted an economic impact study for KG, said, "If we were going to design it in such a way that it wasn't tied to the city, we'd have a lot more restaurants."

And it probably would have a theater, too, which Cannon Street Station won't have. Instead, it will funnel its patrons to the Zeiterion Theatre, again just minutes away.

"If you can feed off an existing theater in town, that's phenomenal," Gallaway quickly followed up.

While Stern said he didn't envision direct aid, he said the casino could provide the Zeiterion an "operating stream" of revenue by purchasing large blocks of tickets in advance.

Developers also envision "allowing casino patrons to redeem their frequent-player points at neighborhood businesses (to enhance) the value of the rewards program while benefiting neighborhood shop owners."

A critical element for connecting the casino to downtown is what the developers called the calming of Route 18.

"City government must calm traffic in order to stimulate pedestrian flow," Gallaway's report said. "City government must also provide the sidewalks, crosswalks ... and street lighting in order to make transit between the commercial-entertainment zone and the casino safe and attractive."

Also critical is the connection to the city's working waterfront. "We know there's a need for additional berthing spaces," said Michael Lifland, a New York lawyer who headed the land acquisition team, "and this is a place we can put them."

The developers already have spent about $3 million for "site control and design," and tens of millions more would need to be spent to clean up environmental hazards in the old power plant and in the surrounding area.

In part, it was the contamination that attracted the group to the 29-acre site.

"We're brownfields developers," Stern said. "We start out looking for a place that has a story to tell, a cool spot, a cool old building. There's a pulse here. That's what we're looking for."

He said KG originally looked at the old Revere Copper plant in the Hicks-Logan neighborhood, where Northeast Resorts subsequently acquired options on about 35 acres and is planning to build its own casino complex. "We passed on it," Stern said, largely because it's too far away from downtown to create a synergy. "We didn't settle for the booby prize or second choice."

While KG is planning and designing the project, it would not seek a license or build the casino itself, Stern said. As it did in the redevelopment of an old steel factory in Bethlehem, Pa., the firm would likely sell its interests to a publicly traded Las Vegas casino company, Stern said.

Many obstacles remain before a casino could be built on the waterfront, or anywhere else in Massachusetts, for that matter. First, the Legislature must approve casino gaming. Then the Legislature or its designated gaming commission would decide how many licenses were to be issued and at which locations.

The developers said politics remains their biggest concern, fearful that the Legislature could agree to license fewer than the three casinos proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2008.

"If there's not one in the southeast," Gallaway said, "Massachusetts is just shooting itself in the foot. People will just keep going to Twin River and Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun."

While Stern admitted, "We've got a lot of lobbying work to do," he said he remains optimistic.

"We wouldn't have put the money in and gone through what we have unless we thought we had the best project."